Linotype The Linofilm

[Mechanic]

(Translation of caption) The Linofilm: Linotype with camera.
It was created in 1949 but was never introduced on the market.

When I was working for Canadian Linotype I ran across a brochure for Linofilm. It was not the Linofilm system that we are all familiar with but a machine that looked like a Linotype. I asked the service manager, who had been with the company since the early 20's, about the brochure. He told me that Mergenthaler had made a machine that operated in the same way as a Linotype that had a camera instead of a casting mechanism, similar to the Intertypes Fotosetter. They built a prototype and showed it at an ANPA convention. Apparently, it got a lot of interest from the industry, but the powers that be decided that it was not the way to go and scrapped the idea of basing a phototypesetter on the Linotype.

Since I joined Metal Type I have been looking for a photo of the original Linoflm and I have just found one on "Les machines de l'imprimer"  or "Machines of the Printer"

http://aleph2at.free.fr/index.php?art=2994